MADDOW (11/7/18): Lauren Underwood grew up in Naperville, Illinois. When she was 8 years old, she was diagnosed with a chronic heart condition. That's what made her want to become a nurse, watching her own caregivers back when she was a little kid.

Lauren Underwood became a nurse. She ended up taking her nursing experience to the Obama administration, where she worked at the Health and Human Services Department helping to implement the Affordable Care Act.

Back home in Illinois, Lauren Underwood's congressman, Republican Randy Hultgren, voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and that's when things started to change in Lauren Underwood's life.

[...]

After the 2016 presidential election, with her hometown congressman voting to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, Lauren Underwood decided she would run for Congress. Thirty-two years old, never run for anything. She's from the 14th district in Illinois, which is a solid red part of the state, a Trump district.

Eighty-six percent of that district is white. Voters there have never sent a person of color to Congress. They have never sent a woman, either.

By all accounts, Lauren Underwood was a pipe dream to fill that seat held by the Republican who had voted to take away her health care. Until she wasn't. Last night, Lauren Underwood won. She turfed out a four-time Republican congressman, 20 years her senior, in a race everybody told her she would lose.

When Underwood was interviewed by Maddow, she noted that her district was formerly held by none other than Denny Hastert. How did she manage to win in this district? Underwood told it like this:

MADDOW: You were 30 years old when you decided to run for this seat. You are 32 now. You're going to be one of the youngest people elected to Congress. And as an African-American woman, as a woman of color, running in this district—I mean, that itself was such, it has to have been such a steep climb.

I mean, I mentioned in the introduction, 86 percent white resident. You're running as a first time candidate, as a woman, as a young woman, as an African-American woman. I want to know whether or not that was daunting for you, whether that was a factor in terms of your confidence and in your game plan.

UNDERWOOD: Well, this is my community. It's my home. My family moved to Naperville when I was 3 years old. So, this is a community that taught me to be a black woman in the world. And so, I certainly never—it never crossed my mind that I was somehow not a good fit or unqualified to seek this seat and run for this position.

And so, I stepped forward. And with the help of so many women in our district, we were able to do what many folks had never imagined would be possible.

Underwood took a good look around. This 86 percent district was, in fact, her home town!

The world is full of good, decent people. It also includes many people of talent and obvious upbeat intention. Underwood is one such person.

14 comments:

There were dozens, even hundreds, of Lauren Underwoods on the ballot Tuesday all across the country. Not a one of them was mentioned here. Some won, some lost. None accused their opponents or their voters of “racism.” And yet, we have constantly been told by the purveyor of this blog that “identity politics” are all “we liberals” know. So, blow me, Somerby.

She was able to squeak through a win (142,261-131,819) in Illinois' 14th district, which is a suburb of Chicago that voted for Obama and a Dem representative in 2008 and never was very excited about Trump, but is still almost half filled with people perfectly willing to support a race-baiting, self-serving clown.

After earning her masters in public health from Johns Hopkins (in Baltimore, MD) she worked for the Obama administration. She appears to be a run of the mill Democratic, somewhat centrist or Obama-like, not supportive of more populist notions like single payer healthcare. I would vote for her, while not as left leaning as I am, she's better for the country than any Republican.

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